Villa's Grill Brazilian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Irving

I have never wrote an online review for a restaurant, but having just ate at Villa's, I felt the need to (plus I feel all these "excellent" reviews might be being padded a little by the staff.)

First let's talk about the food. I found it very mediocre at best. The salad bar, which is one of my favorite things about going to a Brazilian steakhouse, was quite lacking. Very few options. What was there didn't seem very fresh. There were green olives, some banana peppers, pickled peppers, a few other pickled items, cold pasta, some potatoes salad, romaine lettuce, spinach lettuce, and a couple other items I can't recall. The hot bar items included mashed potatoes that tasted instant, steamed peppers/carrots, rice, beans, fried yucca, and some empanada looking things that tasted very dry with chicken inside. During the hour I was at the restaurant no items were ever replenished on the hot or cold salad bar. Now on to the meats. I counted around a 6-7 variety of meats. Sausage, chicken leg, bacon wrapped chicken, lamb, and a few options of steaks. Most of this I found on par with what you would get at Golden Corral. The chicken leg was very dry, a little too crispy, and definitely cooked too long. Bacon wrapped chicken was okay, not great, just okay. The cuts of beef all seemed a little too chewy, with several quite bland. I passed on the lamb, but my eating companion tried it and felt it was on par with everything else. The fried bananas is simply a mushy banana in a crispy cinnamon shell. The pineapple couldn't really taste any cinnamon on it, and it was cold. Bland is the best description of their food.

Let's talk about the service. In no way was it worth the 18% gratuity given. We were offered two tables that were both dirty, and neither setup to eat at. Our drinks came to us halfway through the meal only after we asked one of the men bringing around the meats for them. After we were done eating we sat there for quite a bit of time wondering if anyone was ever going to ask if we wanted dessert, or even our check. We had already informed the waitress when we sat down this was our first time there, so you would think she would make sure to check back on us towards the end of the meal. By the time we were finally asked the whole thing just felt awkward.

What I thought was going to be a fun night out ended up being a less than enjoyable experience. Needless to say, we won't be...

I did not want to give them 4 stars. The food was very good. The service was also good, I thought...until I started to notice some differences.

My niece and I walked into the restaurant. It occurred to me that we were the only African Americans in the place but it didn’t bother us. The waiter saw us in the doorway and came and sat us immediately. He asked us for our drink order and left the area. We got up and got some food.

The lunch options for sides and salads were small but everything was tasty. I truly enjoyed the black beans and cauliflower...fried cauliflower! Loved the flan and rice pudding as well.

The gentlemen came around with very tasty cuts of meat. All of which I loved. They even had grilled pineapple. Around that time, other people started to come in. They too were seated but we noticed something about everyone that came in after us...they were given baskets of bread and plantain. I began to look around at the other tables who were there before us...they all had baskets of bread. We did not.

Throughout the hour or so we were there, we had no less than 5 encounters with servers (waiter, waitress, meat servers) and at no time were we offered bread nor plantain.

Again, I don’t want to assume anything but the only difference between my niece and I and the other parties in the restaurant was our skin color.

The restaurant was nice enough, the food tasty enough and the overall service good enough...I just wish we had not noticed the difference in how we...

UPDATED: January 2015 Based upon my last three visits to this place, I have been forced to downgrade my rating to three stars. Service has been poor with considerable time between meats being brought out. In addition, there seems to be a noticeable decline in the amount of beef being served, with chicken and sausage coming out more frequently.

On my last visit, we had to ask three times for the grilled pineapple to be brought out.

I would not discourage anyone from dining here, but I would say that you should not expect the superior dining experience that used to be found here. They do have two other locations now. Perhaps they are as good as this location used to be.

ORIGINAL REVIEW Outstanding Food and Service!

Villa's is outstanding and I can highly recommend them with a clear conscience. The meats they offer are cooked and seasoned very well, and the service I have received has never been better at any other restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed, casual, and fun with frequent groups and families. It is also affordably priced.

The only thing that prevents this from being five stars is that some other places do offer larger selections of meats and better stocked salad bars. However, who goes to a Brazilian steakhouse for the salad bar?

I have eaten here multiple times since they first opened and have never been...